Quora Answer: Should Singapore include Nationalism into Its Political Doctrine?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Should Singapore include nationalism into its political doctrine?”

What does this even mean?  Political doctrine is held by political parties, not the state.  Nationalism is the belief in the exceptionalism of one’s own nation, and support of its interest to the exclusion of another.  There is no nation that does not have nationalism.  Without that concept, there is no nation state.

The concept of nationalism as seen through the prism of Singapore is inculcated from young in the school syllabus, during National Service, and overt events celebrating the achievement of the nation.  This is the National Education programme, and part of psychological defence, in our Total Defence doctrine.